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Wednesday, 21 November 2007

Chicken Pie

Made this chicken pie for lunch today. This is my very first attempt at making a pie. I have never thought I would be able to make a savoury pie, as I can't really cook I always stay away from any bakes that require some form of cooking.

Just last week, my cyberfriend, VB, sent me photos of her lovely chicken pie. She followed the recipe posted by Baking Mum. Instead of making into small individual pies, she made it into a big one. The pie crust was a beautiful golden brown..and it looked very flaky and yummy! I was so inspired with her beautiful pie that I wanted to make one right away :DI followed the recipe posted by Peony of My Culinary Journal, who has adapted the same recipe from Baking Mum. Like VB, I made mine into big ones...since I do not have a big enough pie pan, I made mine into two medium sized pies...using a 20cm and a 18cm tart pan. I didn't brush on any egg wash on the crust as I do not like the glossy effect after baking.

From the many cookbooks that I have borrowed, I have seen beautiful photos of pies decorated with pretty trimmings and decorative edges. Since I do not have any experience to come up with those intricate trimmings, I simply pressed a fork around the edge of the crust to make it more presentable. With a small piece of dough, I cut out the 'leaves" with a knife since I do not have any nice cookie cutters to do the job. The veins are marked using the back of the knife. I simply place them on top of the crust and cut a few slits on the top before baking. As the dough was rather soft to work with, the leaves were not of the same size and thickness :'(

I was quite surprised that the 'veins' of the leaves were still visible after baking.

As my pie pans do not come with a loose bottom, I lined two stripes of parchment paper at the bottom of the pan. When the pie was done, I tried lifting it out from the pan with the stripes of paper. However, the crust started to crack. In the end, I had to invert the pie onto a plate, and then invert it again onto a serving plate.

My niece came over for to our place today, and so the four of us each had a quarter of the pie. We liked the buttery, crisp crust very much. It is not overly flaky like a puff pastry, but tasted just right for a short-crust pastry. We have varied opinions about the fillings though. Thanks to my lousy cooking skills, my elder boy and my niece felt that the potatoes were too mushy for their liking...but they like the other stuff in the fillings. Whereas my younger boy and I find the soft and mushy potatoes tasty. The kids had fun trading away the stuff in the fillings among one another!

Upon the request by the kids, I had removed all the green peas from the mixed vegetables...all the 3 of them hate peas! So there is not a single green in the pie!

This is the other smaller pie I reserved for my better half. Since there were no extra dough, I didn't manage to decorate the top of this pie. I was glad that he liked it. He ate 3/4 of the pie right after dinner...and he liked the mushy potatoes fillings too :D

Hi, wonderful blog, so inspiring that I started to try some of your creations, thanks for sharing. Made the Peach and Mango Charlotte, haven't tried yet. I have a question abt Holicks Cookies. I used Milo instead and cookie turned out a little "hard" wonder what went wrong :(

Hmmm, Aimei, you should try to go to bed earlier, why were you still up at this kind of hours? ;)but I do think it's kind of 'shiok' to have a pipping hot chicken pie for late nite supper!!

Elyn, thanks! Your recent bakes were so professional! I love those xmas cookies you made!

Thanks, Hazel!

Anh, thanks!!

Anne, I was just playing around with the dough! The crust recipe is a keeper :)

InspiredMumof2, yes the kids like them. Initially my elder one didn't like the idea I was making them a chicken pie! He once ate a very awful chicken pie from some bakery shop...but fortunately, this pie didn't disappoint him too much :)

Adeline, hope you like the charlotte cake! I used Milo for the Horlicks cookies too. I didn't really find them hard...just that even though I prefer Milo as a drink, I think these cookies made with Horlicks really tasted better.

The pie looks great! I like the veined leaves ;) My parents are big fans of pies, and I always make the buttery sort of crust as well, vis-a-vis the flaky puff pastry sort. I think the buttery crust complements savoury fillings very well.

Hey, tried the Charlotte cake last nite, my sis in law loves it. Was thinking, may be should put a layer of biscuit fingers at the base to hold up the yogurt layer. Mine looked like almond jelly. Didn't have a good bake week ...

hi.. can i ask if i can use set yoghurt for the crust? cuz i hav some left and looking for some delicious recipes like tis one! but i am afraid the set yoghurt will not blend in well rith the mixture and will hav the lumpy effect. hope u can help me. thks alot!

Hi Cheryl, pardon my ignorant, I do not know what is set yoghurt? I used plain yoghurt. Since this is the first time I have tried making a pie crust, I am afraid I am not able to give any comments on this. Sorry, I am of not much help in this area, hope you understand.

it is me again...would like to consult u on how to cut the dough to fit the pie tin. Do you need some special equipment to do that? what about individual pie? have u made them before ? if yes, can share how you cut the dough?wanted to make pies tomorrow but may have to change plans if i can't figure out the above....

Hi Octopusmum, I didn't exactly cut the dough, I just divide it into two portions, and roll out into a round about 1.5" bigger than the pie tin for the bottom later. As for the top, I just roll it to the same size of the tin. You can alwasy use a knife to cut it, no special tools is required. I am sorry, I have not tried making them into small individual ones....I am too lazy!

did u follow Poeny's recipe exactly and it yield 2 pies (one 20 cm and the other 18cm)? sorry, one more question, what type of pie tin are u using? i only have a small oven which can bake one pie at a time...

hi Octopusmum, yes I followed the recipe exactly, I managed to make two pies. For the 20cm one, I used a disposable foil pan. Whereas the 18cm pie pan, I got it from Daiso. It is actually quite small, as in the height...it is not very deep, it suppose to be meant for making tarts. My oven can only bake one at a time too. You can time it so that, once you placed the first one in the oven, you can start making the second one. Hope this helps. Do give it a try, I am very sure you will like it! I hope I can pop by your home to taste it! I wont be baking very much as I need to coach my kids with their exams next week :'(

thks for sharing how u overcame the problem of a small oven...in the end, i didn't make the pies. i think i would need more time to prepare them and because of exam period, think i better spend more time coaching the kids (juz like u) so have to settle for sth that can be done in a shorter time...well, for a first timer, i don't think i have the courage to show the shifu my masterpiece but, if it turns out okay, don't mind sharing with u if there is a chance to..haha...octopusmum

managed to make the pie yesterday. but my fillings were too much (i used 400g potatoes and the 2 chicken breasts were also quite big). managed to make 7 individual pies and now, have 1 tub of fillings in the freezer.btw, is it okay to freeze the fillings? the dough was v soft and sticky despite putting it in the fridge overnight. It was impossible to roll using a rolling pin and in the end, i just used my palms to flatten it. overall, the pie is okay but i found the skin to be sourish, could be due to the yoghurt. need to find time to use up the rest of the fillings. do u have other dough recipes to recommend?thksoctopusmum

Hi Octopusmum, I have not freezed the fillings before, so I am really not sure whether it is ok. but I would think as long as you use it up fast, it shouldnt be a problem? I'm sorry I am not able to recommend any other recipe as this is the only chicken pie recipe I have tried making.

I m thinking of baking a chicken pie since last week, bot the Pampas pie crust at Phoon Huat, but was held up cos my girl asks for choc chip cookies, and i m a bit of worried on how to make the chicken paste.

One more thing, I have to turn the pie over to bake the other side which is hidden by the pie tin ELSE not cooked. For the big pie I put aluminium foil n turn it and it sticks to ot. maybe hv to use greaseproof paper better. I use 180 deg C to bake.